Keeping XP until Windows 8 arrives? Bad idea, experts say

Many businesses are planning to stick with Windows XP until Microsoft’s upcoming operating system, Windows 8, is released. But some experts are warning that’s a dangerous tactic.

The reason: Support for XP may run out before most businesses are able to migrate to Windows 8.

The problem with trying to skip Windows 7 was recently described by tech research firm Gartner: While no release date for Windows 8 has been officially announced, analysts’ best guess now is that the OS will be available around the middle of the year in 2012.

Gartner estimates it will take organizations nine to 18 months to plan Windows 8 deployments and for software vendors to test supported applications — that means most businesses probably won’t be able to start the often lengthy upgrade process before the end of 2013. And with support for XP ending in April 2014, that’s cutting things pretty close.

As a result, Gartner recommends businesses continue with their plans to migrate to Windows 7, rather than wait for Windows 8.

Is your business running XP? Do you plan to switch to Windows 7? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments section below.

Duane

Currently running XP for day to day work but do have windows 7 installed on a test machine to test for compatability on customer’s systems.

DC

Microsoft has a rich history of having a good OS followed by a bad OS. 2000 – Good, ME – bad, XP – good, Vista – bad, Win 7 – good, Win 8 – looks like it is going to be bad. For those on XP, they need to upgrade to Win 7, watch the train wreck called Win 8, then migrate to Win 9 (or whatever they decided to call it).

We are SLOWLY moving from XP to 7. It is a very frustrating having to install a new copy of Windows 7 and then XP mode and then install the old programs in XP mode. Since most businesses didn’t move to Vista due to problems, why didn’t Microsoft come up with an upgrade from XP to 7 instead of having to go thru the aforementioned lengthy process?

Cris

“The reason: Support for XP may run out before most businesses are able to migrate to Windows 8.”

In other words, no inherent problem in the operating system, but rather forced obsolescence. What else is new?

Rob

Win7 migration in Beta testing mode with users in various departments.
The only reason we didn’t migrate earlier was because of lack of Win7 support with some vendor legacy apps.

TD

I plan on moving to Win7 next year. Not because of Microsoft ending support, but hardware drivers are becoming more Win7 focused. Yeah you can find some XP drivers, but some of the functionality of the device is lost. This is most noticeable on video drivers, especially using extended desktop on multiple monitors.

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IT Manager Daily, part of the Catalyst Media Network, provides the latest IT and business technology news for IT professionals in the trenches of small-to-medium-sized businesses. Rather than simply regurgitating the day’s headlines, IT Manager Daily delivers actionable insights, helping IT execs understand what technology trends mean to their business.